Project 26: Ascension
by Verbum
Summary: A group of genetically engineered children with unimaginable superpowers learn about freedom and make their escape...R&R is appreciated.
1. Project 26: The Search for the Ultimate...

Project 26

by

Verbum

  


Prologue

September, 1975

  


Henry Peter Gyrich had a smile on his face, for once. His years of planning, meetings with the top scientists from around the world, and getting the government permission that a project on this scale required had finally led up to this moment: the Ascension Island Biogenetic Research Station was finally opening.

  


The tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean was nothing but rock and sea turtle; virtually deserted, it seemed like the logical place to build. After all, with no people to interrupt the research by spying around, they could all work in peace. Gyrich's plans also included a company town of sorts about one to two miles away from the

lab, which housed all of the permanent scientists and lab technicians.

  


_It's the perfect setup_, Gyrich thought to himself, as he walked around the small reception given in honor of the opening. Most of the Station workers were attending sans the ones conducting the lab's first experiments....

  


_However, this is nothing_, _compared to what the receptions will be like after the findings are known......_

  



	2. Project 26: Chapter 2

**Project 26**

by

Verbum

  


Chapter One

June 17, 1990

  


Dr. Sharon Blevins looked at the crowd of people from behind the curtain and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. In the auditorium there were representatives from every major world power, all quietly chatting with one another while they waited for the presentation to start.

  


_This is nothing to worry about_, she thought. After all, she had met much of the audience before. The Ascension Island Biogenetic Research Station had grown much bigger since their opening in the mid-seventies and now included a major lab in the United States, and many secondary stations in twenty-six other countries. The head of all this was Dr. Blevins, the Chairperson of the entire thing known only as Project 26; with all of that to consider, of course she had met them. Gyrich, who was sitting in one of the chairs behind the curtain noticed her nervousness, stood up, and went over to her.

  


"Good Luck, kid," he said to her and grinned. She smiled back nervously back at him as she walked out from behind the curtain.

  


"Ladies and Gentlemen," she began. The room immediately quieted down.

  


"I, Dr. Sharon Blevins, would like to welcome you to the Ascension Island Biogenetic Research Station. Over the past 15 years, we here have dedicated our lives to the pursuit of knowledge in the field of biogenetics, a vastly unknown but very important science, especially in the study of mutant physiology." Scattered clapping here and there.

  


"This," she continued,"is where we have spent most of our research. Finding and isolating the gene which causes the mutation is just the tip of the iceberg, however. We have learned to manipulate the gene, causing an increase and decrease in the extent of power rendered. We have learned how to tweak the DNA, getting just the results that we requested. Finally, we are closer than ever to finding a way to block that gene." The audience clapped vigorously. Sharon held up a hand to quiet them.

  


"Ladies and Gentlemen, the implications that such a finding would cause would mean that instead of having to deal with the increased threat that the rapid rate in mutant births is causing, we can totally eradicate the gene. Out of control mutant criminals could be brought to justice by the simple tweaking of their genetic matter. Imagine a world without Magneto, without the X-Men causing a constant threat to our homes and families. That is what we have worked for, and this entire station would like to thank you for your continuing support over the past 15 years. Thanks to your dedication we have a discovery that could forever change the way biogenetics is studied."

  


As the audience clapped, Sharon left the podium to Gyrich, so he could take over. She had other business to attend to...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pain was returning, and that meant that she would get no dinner; they never fed those whose were experimented on that day. They were too fragile, or so they said. Psion laid down on her bunk and closed her eyes. The hum of the machinery went on, and she dozed off. She didn't know that she was asleep until a splash of water hit her. She woke up abruptly as Aquarius stood by her bunk, a frown creasing her face.

  


"It's time to eat, " the Asian girl said.

  


"I don't get food today." Psion pushed her blond bob off of her face.

  


"Oh." She frowned and turned away. "Psion, I could always--

  


_Don't even think about it_, she replied mentally. She never replied telepathically unless she couldn't help it, such as in her telepathy training, or when she became really angry. 

"You really should eat; you're pale."

  


"I'd rather not. Just go on without me."

  


"If you say so." Aquarius turned on her heel and left the room to go to the mess hall. Psion laid back down on her bunk and fell back into a dreamless sleep.

  


  


End part one

  


  


  



	3. Project 26: Chapter 3

Project 26, Chapter 2

by

Verbum

  


  


  


  


Author's Note: I own the following things: Psion, Aquarius, Switcher, Nova, Micromass, and Matrix, as well as the Ascension island research Station, Dr. Sharon Blevens, and project 26, and the plot. The X-Men belong to Marvel (though when I take over the world, I'll own them, too...). This is the second part to Project 26.

  


  


The blank metal doors that led to the mess hall opened and Aquarius entered, followed by a pair of armed guards.

  


'Wholly unnecessary,' the Asian girl thought, 'as they have these power inhibiting chips built into this uniform. She looked down at the plain white bodysuit that housed all of the 'mutant control' equipment: augmenter, power inhibitor, pain modules for when rules weren't followed. 

  


'I was never one for following the rules,' she thought, smiling, as she sat down at the P26 table. The other occupants of her table raised their eyebrows. The first to speak was the red-headed boy.

  


"Are you okay?" What was his name...Switcher....yeah, that was it. The grin fell from Aquarius' face.

  


"Psion won't eat." Switcher looked at his tray for a moment, then put down his fork, muttering something about inedible food. The African American boy was next to speak.

  


"It was her turn, wasn't it?" he asked softly. Aquarius nodded. The quiet girl in the corner of the table slammed her fork down, sending a loud clatter go through the room.

The guards stared, and the girl shook her head.

  


"Matrix!" Switcher yelled.

  


"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had a test yesterday." She pulled up the left sleeve of the bodysuit, revealing a fresh marking: the symbol of Project 26. The table looked away, except for Aquarius. 

  


The Symbol. It was given only to those classified as dangerous mutants, to those that would be given the most rigorous testing, and to those who would eventually disappear, without bang or whimper. It happened all the time. Psion had the symbol, Aquarius remembered the day she got it--she was the first. Aquarius was next, though she never told anyone. Then Switcher, Micromass, and now Matrix. There was only one person left...

  


"Has anyone seen Nova?" Matrix shook her head, her dark brown curls bobbing as she spoke.

  


"He was tested today. Remember? With Psion?" Aquarius nodded and pushed her tray away. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Switcher staring at her. Matrix and Micromass stared down at their food. Standing up and turning on her heel, she stood by the entrance to the mess hall and waited for he guards to take her back to the cell.

  


------------------------------

  


She dreamed of white picket fences and the red curtains that her mother used to hang on the window, and of the smell of chocolate cookies. In fact, she could almost touch her mother in the dream, like she used to be, before father moved to Ascension. Before the POWERS. Before she was able to look at Johnny on the corner of Miller Street and know what he thought of Maria Helmsley, or why mom was mad at Daddy. Before she could move the posters in her room with her mind.

  


The scene changed to her first day at Ascension, and her facing the cold metal doors. Her first meal, with Aquarius, Micromass, and Matrix. She remembered seeing the test chair for the first time, with the head operations lady...Ms. Bleevins, or something like that. And the Symbol, given to her after the first test. The images began to slowly swirl together, the faces of her mom and that Bleevins lady, the chair and the house...faster and faster it turned, and she felt drawn into the abyss. Psion screamed into the darkness..................................

  


--------------------------------

  


Professor Charles Xavier awoke in a cold sweat, his head throbbing from an unusually vivid dream he had just had. It almost ended with...a scream? It couldn't have.

  


'Perhaps I should visit Hank on this one,' he thought, as he crawled into the hoverchair and made his way down the stairs and into the Mansion's expansive kitchen. Jean was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water and staring off into space. The Professor smiled; she had done a lot of this since she found out about her recent pregnancy. It was almost like a Mary Cassatt painting. Jean looked up from her glass of water and smiled at him.

  


"Hello, Charles."

  


"Are you feeling all right, Jean?" the red-headed woman nodded.

  


"I just have a slight headache. I couldn't sleep too well, so I thought that a glass..." Jean looked down and frowned.

  


"You too, then." Jean Grey-Summers nodded and looked into her water.

  


"It almost seemed like... a cry for help." The Professor nodded, stopping at the refrigerator.

  


"I think it was a psychic shockwave of some sort, given off by a very powerful telepath."

  


"But why?"

  


"I don't know, Jean. We have to look into it later...it seems important, but now just isn't the time." Jean nodded as the professor poured himself a glass of water and went back to his room.

  


--------------------------------

  


  


Nova stared at the machinery in front of him, memorizing every different little wire and switch that went along with it. The test was hard, but he'd been through worse. The mental impulse to touch the little buzzing wire overpowered his mind, and he involuntarily began to outstretch his hands towards the open panel. The first touch was excruciating, but he relaxed his mind and let the pain flow through him, feeling the now familiar sensation of the power coursing throughout his body, letting it build up until it exploded in a shower of plasma and shrapnel. That old sensation was coming back, as he felt his nerves begin to sizzle with the electricity coursing through his body. In another second....

  


The room was lit up by the sudden explosion given off by Nova's power; he felt power in the explosiveness and volatility of his talents. Even if he didn't have the symbol. He frowned. The others had the symbol. Even Aquarius and her paltry water tricks. The anger filled his body with more raw power, a painful process, but it augmented it in ways that even Switcher couldn't dream of. Nova smiled to himself. 

  


'I know who I am. I know what I can do. Knowledge is power, and nothing can stop me now....'

  


----------------------------------------

  


  


Switcher lounged on his bunk by the door, absentmindedly looking off into space. He needed a haircut, the red curls that he had always had were starting to show up again. They would always cut it into that short military style. Micromass raised his eyebrows at his comapnion.

  


"Are you okay?" Switcher looked at him, eyes half open.

  


"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

  


"No reason, really." He broke out into a wide grin. "It's Aquarius, isn't it?"

  


Micromass had a naturally thick African accent, making it rather hard to understand him sometimes. Therefore, it took a moment for his words to register to Switcher.

  


"Aw, come on. Of course I'm not."

  


"Yes, you are. I can see it." He winked at him. Switcher felt a blush coming to his cheeks.

  


"And if I am?"

  


"Then I know I've been right this entire time. You're always thinking of her. I can sense it in the way you speak to her, look at her at dinner." Micromass smiled at him. "Don't even try to deny it." Switcher laughed. A real laugh.

  


"I can't keep anything from you; I sometimes suspect you purposely look through my things to get information on me." Micromass' face fell.

  


"If we say anymore, the suit will respond." The joviality in the room dampened. 

  


'Micromass is right, though,' Switcher thought. He felt the small tingling sensations that accompanied the occasional outbursts of happiness that found its way into the cell and he sighed. 'If only freedom was possible...'

  


  


  


  


  


End, Part II

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


So, what did you all think? It's been awhile since I worked on this fic, and I decided to pick it up again today. So thanks to wolvie, who got me up off of my butt to get me to do it. Read and review is a Must! Later!


	4. Project 26: Chapter 4

Project 26

  


by Verbum

  


  


Author's Note: I still own all of the original characters in here, but I own nothing in the X-Men. Please excuse the violence in this chapter; I used it to convey a sense of hopelessness that is so prevalent in this story. I hope you enjoy, and please review!

  


  


  


  


  


Today was a multi-person test, something that didn't happen very often. This time, it was Aquarius, Switcher, and Matrix. An odd combination, really; Matrix's unusual power of being able to bond with machines wasn't all that usual, nor was Switcher's ability to augment or **switch** (hence the name) a person's powers. Aquarius stood in a glass shell hooked up to a machine, leaning against its sides and waiting for the boring lecture-talk to end.

  


"The purpose of this test," Dr. Blevins was saying to the graduate students assembled around her, observing the procedure, "is to view the sheer scope of subject 9727135's (she pointed to Switcher) powers, using Aquarius and Matrix over there." Aquarius rolled her eyes, receiving a small shock from her suit. 

  


_Let's just get this over with_, she thought, scanning the room. Matrix, still scarred from yesterday's testing, shook a little bit at her post. The lights dimmed with the sound of electricity moving from one system to another, and Aquarius was immediately pinned up against the side of the machine, which was slowly filling up with water. She nervously glanced at Switcher, whose hands were glowing with a silver light. His powers were taking effect, making him start to twitch. The water crept up to her knees.

  


Switcher felt the electric sensation of the power buildup inside of him, and shuddered. The Blevins woman was still yammering on to the students, who were hurriedly taking notes. Matrix was paling more and more by the minute, and Aquarius was stuck. Switcher's breath caught in his throat; she was up to her waist now. The power surge grew greater.

  


Matrix screamed, even though she felt no pain. The machinery around her buzzed in her ears, and Aquarius, from what she could see, was frantically trying to free herself from her bonds unsuccessfully.

  


_This should have worked!_ Aquarius thought, trying to command the water to her bidding. _They must have power dampeners in here!_

  


Why isn't she using her powers? Matrix thought. She put her hand to the machine nearest her, and closed her eyes, melding with the metal and making its circuits hers. She stopped moving and felt the gentle hum of the current flowing through her as she looked around. The machine she had just entered was directly behind her, and Aquarius was a couple feet away. She could see the pipes supplying the water not even three feet away. Matrix felt her away around the circuitry, and came to a switch.

  


"This is too easy," she said to herself, as she examined the board. If Aquarius was still struggling, it couldn't be heard now. She flipped the switch. The lights all around her blacked out, and the sound of screaming grad students filled her ears, but something else caught her eye. A panel had come up, and was scrolling words across its inky surface.

  


Vasquez, Amalia. Codename Matrix: 1342790. Alpha class, top priority; Weston, Michael. Codename Micromass: 2674938. Alpha class, top priority; Scott, Jeffrey. Codename Switcher: 9727135. Alpha class, top priority; Kim, Leilani. Codename Aquarius: 8530701. Alpha class, top priority; Constangelakos, Paul. Codename Nova: 3520. Alpha class, top priority. Taylor, Penelope. Codename Psion: 1. Alpha class, top priority.

  


Matrix shook with excitement. Whatever this was, it was huge. Suddenly, however, She lurched forward with the onset of a violent bout of nausea. Water shot from her hands in a jet, hitting the machinery and causing short circuits. The steam was rising inside of there. Frantically, she looked for a way out, and, with a burst of effort, she forced herself out of the machine. The graduate students were still screaming, and Dr. Blevins was still attempting to calm them down. Aquarius was coughing on the ground, next to the broken machinery, sopping wet. There was no sign of Switcher, however.

  


"What happened?" Aquarius asked softly, from the ground. Matrix collapsed on the floor next to her.

  


"It was Switcher," she said, examining the cuts and mild scalds she had received as a result of the switch. Aquarius grunted from her face down position. The lights came back on, and 2 armed guards took them away.

  


------------------------------

  


_Amalia Vasquez_, Matrix thought to herself in her bunk later that night. She was no longer burnt and bruised, but was now under strict surveillance at all times, except after lights out. _I have a name_.

  


"Excuse me?" Psion asked sleepily from her bunk. Aquarius was still in the MedWard under watch.

  


"I said something?" Matrix asked with surprise. Psion yawned.

  


"Yes, you did. Something about having a name." Psion's accent was different than everyone else's, Matrix thought. Micromass's was obviously African, Aquarius didn't really have much of a regional accent at all, and neither did Switcher. But Psion's was more... what was the word... refined. 

  


"I hadn't realized I said anything at all," Matrix responded.

  


"Yes, well, we all have names," Psion responded. "You're Matrix, Aquarius is in the MedWard, and I'm Psion."

  


"I didn't mean that kind of name," Matrix said. Penelope sat up.

  


"Oh... well. Of course we do. We don't use them, that's all." 

  


"You knew?"

  


"Of course I know my name," Psion said, a bit snappishly. "In a place like this, it's the best thing to know."

  


"Penelope Taylor."

  


"Penelope Lynn Taylor, if you please."

  


"I'm Amalia Vasquez." Psion was silent.

  


"Pleased to meet you," she said, lying back down. Her soft breathing could be heard in the silence of the cell.

  


-----------------------------

  


Switcher was alone. No one was allowed in his cell, on threat of Federal offense and capital punishment. He had been given 2 meals, and had 24 hour guards posted around his door. And all for the sake of that test. He looked up at his ceiling, and sighed. The door creaked open, and the officious looking Dr. Blevins came in, bearing a clipboard.

  


"Switcher," she said indifferently, like a soldier taking orders. "How are you feeling?"

  


"All right, I guess."

  


"Good. Now, you know why you're in here, right?" He shook his head.

  


"Actually, I don't."

  


'I figured," she said, never taking her eyes from the clipboard. "I take it you remember yesterday?"

  


"Yes."

  


'Good." She motioned for one pof the guards to step into the room, and handed him a black leather bag.

  


"Take out instrument 1," she said, her eyes still on the clipboard. The guard grunted, and took out a couple of suction cups attached to a kind of skullcap. He hooked it up to a nearby machine that Switcher had never before noticed, and handed the skullcap to Dr. Blevins, making a timely exit.

  


"The purpose of this exercise,' she said, finally glancing up from the board to check her progress, "is to... wipe the memory of the recipient, when they... amass too much knowledge, or to keep a mistank from happening again."

  


"Yut what did I do?' She took her glasses off, and wiped them on a bit of her sleeve.

  


"You, Jeffrey Scott, destroyed an expensive piece of machinery, then exited the premises of a test before it was finished. He knitted his red eyebrows together.

  


"But Aquarius was drowning."

  


"A sacrifice for the sake of science." She had fitted the skullcap around the top of his head, and attached the suction cups to the area right behind his ears. The guards closed the doors to his cell, and locked them as the test wnt on, among Switcher's screams.

  


------------------------------

  


The breakfast table at Xavier's school for Gifted youngsters was crowded, as usual. Beast was sitting off to the side, in a quiet spot, nursing a cup of coffee and attempting to get through the latest Tom Clancy novel. Jean and Scott were sitting near the Professor, discussing President Bush's latest promises with regards to taxes. The rest of the tam was eating and joking around.

  


Psylocke stiffened, and lurched forward at the kitchen table, garnering stares from the rest of the team. The Beast ran over, and immediately checked her pulse. Before he had finished, though, Jean and the Professor had also suffered the same thing.

  


"What was that?" Rogue asked cautiously. Professor Xavier weakly sat back up.

  


"Jean, the other night!" She rubbed her head on the sore spot where it had hit the table.

  


"Do you think this is the same thing?" He nodded.

  


'We have to check Cerebro," he said, but he was cut off by another psychic backlash that hit Psylocke, causing her to retch and collapse on the floor unconscious. Scott ran over to her.

  


'We have to get her to the lab, Hank!" jean narrowed her eyes; why hadn't Scott done tha same for her?

  


"oh my stars and garters..." The conscious X-Men cleared the way, and Psylocke was taken downstairs.


End file.
